Video Classics: ‘Dancing in the Street’ – Van Halen

Anyone ever heard of Martha and the Vandellas? Raise your hand if you know who they are, and if you don’t, you can …

Martha and the Vandellas were one of the most-successful groups in the Motown stable in the mid-’60s.  While the group had a Martha, none of them were named ‘Vandella’ … that was coined from a combination of Van Dyke Street in Detroit and the name of Della Reese. Known for a more hard-edged, aggressive sound than what most of Motown was supporting at the time, “Dancing in the Street” became the group’s signature song. It was so successful, in fact, that it went on to become one of Motown’s staples. The version that may be more well-known, and certainly will resonate with more WNEW.com followers, however, is this one …

Van Halen was neither the first nor last group to cover Martha and the V’s signature song.  The Mama’s and the Papas performed a version, and the Grateful Dead included a cover on their 1977 album, Terrapin Station.  Nevertheless, the Van Halen cover is the most famous.

Van Halen released “Dancing in the Street” as part of their 1982 album Diver Down, where it was the second single. As befits the ’80s, it was filled with heavy synthesizer. But according to David Lee Roth, despite it’s heavier, processed sound, it’s hardly overdubbed. Even so, some critics complained it was too much like the original, to which Eddie van Halen responded:

It takes almost as much time to make a cover song sound original as it does writing a song. I spent a lot of time arranging and playing synthesizer on ‘Dancing in the Street,’ and they [critics] just wrote it off as, ‘Oh, it’s just like the original.’ So forget the critics! These are good songs. Why shouldn’t we redo them for the new generation of people?

Van Halen and crew wouldn’t be the last to follow that sentiment, either. Mick Jagger and David Bowie recorded it as a duo in 1985 for the Live Aid movement. It seems that no matter what the venue, a lot of people just want to keep “Dancing in the Street”.

Add your thoughts to the comments below or take a look at Video Classics past…